


thieves in plain sight

by emblems



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Character Study, F/M, Introspection, Ishbal | Ishval, War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-28
Updated: 2015-06-28
Packaged: 2018-04-06 14:31:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4225434
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emblems/pseuds/emblems
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>all her life, riza has always thought of thieves as shadows, swathed in all black. they stole from shadow to shadow, used the cover of night to cloak their movements. their movements were silent, unnoticeable, untraceable. the best thieves did their work and left without even a puff of breath to alert their victims.</p><p>turns out she was all wrong. </p><p>[ she and roy mustang stole more from ishval than they can ever return, but damned if they won't try to make up for it anyway ]</p>
            </blockquote>





	thieves in plain sight

**Author's Note:**

> warnings: description of genocide, mentions of blood

all her life, riza has always thought of thieves as shadows, swathed in all black. they stole from shadow to shadow, used the cover of night to cloak their movements. their movements were silent, unnoticeable, untraceable. the best thieves did their work and left without even a puff of breath to alert their victims.

turns out she was all wrong. 

she never thought she’d see thieves in plain daylight. not once did she think a thief could do his work, could be effective, under the all-seeing eye of blinding sunlight. there were no trees to jump from, no brush with which to conceal oneself.

there was no hiding here, and yet riza has never in her life seen so many thieves, never seen so much stolen.

and their uniforms are blue. 

another thing she never expected?

she never expected to be amongst them.

every day, she wakes up, and she joins the ranks of thieves that call themselves an army. every time she pulls her trigger, she takes. she takes, and takes, and takes. she leaves people without breath and without blood. she leaves them with less than they had before.

less?—she takes everything.

she takes friends from friends, brothers from brothers, husbands from wives—over. and over. and over again.

at one point, when the sun is at its highest point, she pulls away. she casts her eyes across the barren earth, squinting in the noon sun. yards away, she can see sergeant roy mustang.

the man with flames for a soul—he was just as much a thief as the rest of them. he left gaping wounds, charred at the edges and burning long after he left them. skin, air, life—he takes it all. despite wearing gloves, he leaves some of the most obvious markings, leaves the blackest of traces. he is the thief known widely for a signature mark, the one that lives in infamy.

a hero amongst them.

as if sensing her gaze, he turns and meets her eyes. they stay like that for a few moments, two thieves pausing in the middle of their work.

the sun watches.

eventually, he turns away, fingers pressed together. she returns to the reticle of her rifle’s scope, finding escape in the lines that mark her targets.

she pulls the trigger and leaves another hole in another life.

in the distance, she hears a muffled roar (the flames, she swears, can be felt even from this distance). screams bounce off the empty land, echoing across the battlefield.

from that, they cannot run, nor hide. they differ from thieves in that regard, she thinks.

_don't avert your eyes from death. look forward. look at the people you're killing in the face._

_and don't forget them, because they won't ever forget you._

no. they will never forget roy mustang and riza hawkeye—thieves as they are.

the years that follow, they are victims of thievery more than once.

peace of mind. a sound night’s sleep. even roy’s sight, for a time.

they never complain, never think to bemoan their own circumstances.

when they finally return, a mission in their hearts and a plan in their minds, they do so knowing they will never be able to give back anything that equals what they took.

but, this time, at least they stand together, and it's not despair they see in each others eyes—it's the future.

**Author's Note:**

> i wrote this for royai week 2014 (prompt was "stolen") and never put it here... oops?


End file.
